Table XI Land Acknowledgement

At Table XI, our distributed team is located primarily on what is now known as North America. We acknowledge that we reside on the stolen homelands of a great diversity of Indigenous and Aboriginal nations and tribes, many of whom continue to live on today.

Why make a land acknowledgment? As a general practice, land acknowledgments are a way to show solidarity to Indigenous peoples. Most U.S. education portrays Indigenous peoples as a relic of the past, and ignores both the violent, forced acquisition of their land and the fact that many Indigenous peoples and practices still live on today.

If you’re not sure which Native land you reside on, we encourage everyone to check out https://native-land.ca/ and do some research into how local organizations are acknowledging the peoples of the land, past and present. Many groups are making land acknowledgments an ofcial part of their introduction or opening statement as an approachable way to incorporate Indigenous solidarity into daily practice.

We also know that acknowledgement doesn’t go far enough. In addition to supporting federal reparations, as a company we’ll be making annual donations to organizations that support Indigenous peoples in every area where our team members live. The people of Table XI reside in:

Chicago - Council of 3 Fires (Ojibwa, , )

History of Indigenous peoples in

Chicago and the at large lie on the stolen land of dozens of different Indigenous peoples: mainly the Ojibwa, Odawa and Potawatomi tribes that make up the . Formed out of an alliance of mutual beneft, these three tribes considered each other family. The Ojibwa people lived along the southern shore of Lake Superior and were renowned for their hunting and fshing (1). The Odawa people were skillful inter-tribal traders. And the Potawatomi people were considered the earliest farmers in the area now known as .

The land that Chicago currently occupies was a thriving center of trade for hundreds of years prior to European settler-colonialism, largely thanks to the connection of the and Great Lakes (2). The Indigenous peoples carved out trails that became essential for travel and provided the foundation of Chicago’s modern urban planning. These trails are known today as Ogden Street, Avenue, parts of Grand Avenue, and Vincennes Avenue. The Potawatomi, primarily the women of the tribe, successfully cultivated the farmland for centuries.

As European settlers overtook this land via a series of wars, treaties (mainly the in 1821 and 1833) and forced assimilation, they seized both the rich farmland and the rights of travel as well. Chicago and the surrounding land is the thriving metropolis it is today due to the forceful exploitation of traditional Indigenous practices. Today, Chicago is one of the biggest urban centers of Indigenous populations in the U.S. with more than 65,000 Indigenous people and about 175 different tribes represented.

To learn more about the different Indigenous tribes native to this region, check out the land acknowledgments drafted by the Art Institute of Chicago and the Field Museum — two institutions negotiating their own roles in the exploitation of Indigenous peoples.

(1)The US Gen Web Project (2)WBEZ article (3)American Library Association

Some Indigenous organizations in Chicago to support: ● The American Indian Center strives to be the primarily cultural and community resource for Indigenous people in Chicago ● Chi-Nations Youth Council creates a safe space for Native youth in Chicago ● The Chicago American Indian Community Collaborative is dedicated to furthering diverse causes and well-being of Indigenous people in Chicago Seattle - Duwamish Tribe

History of Indigenous peoples in Seattle

Seattle and the Greater King County area lie on the stolen lands of the Duwamish Tribe and Suquamish Tribe. The city itself is named after a Duwamish ancestor, Chief Si’ahl. Despite residing on occupied lands, however, the U.S. Federal Government has refused to recognize the Duwamish as an “ofcial tribe.”

Like many of the tribes along the Pacifc Northwest region, the Duwamish and Suquamish people had a rich culture of fshing and canoeing along the coast and rivers. During winter months they resided in villages that celebrated communal life and spiritual practices in large wooden houses called longhouses. In the spring and summer, they traveled to temporary camps for fshing, hunting and gathering.

Early colonial settlers would likely not have survived the early village period of Seattle without the hunting and lumbering labor of Natives (5). Through the Treaty of Point Elliot, destruction of Native housing and forced ceding of lands to the timber industry and private property, Seattle developed into the city it is today.

(4)2015 proclamation (5)Seattle Times article (6)Suquamish history

Some Indigenous organizations in Seattle to support: ● The Duwamish Tribe’s ofcial website, specifcally its Real Rent program, which calls on residents of Seattle to pay rent to the host tribe ● The Seattle Indian Center promotes and administers programs for the welfare, education, culture, recreation and social beneft of American Indians and ● The Seattle Clear Sky Native Youth Council is a youth-centered, youth-driven program of the Urban Native Education Alliance - , , and Ute Tribes

History of Indigenous Peoples in Denver

Denver lies on the stolen land of the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Ute Tribes (specifcally the Southern Ute Indian Tribe and the Ute Tribe). More broadly, lies on the stolen land of 48 contemporary tribal nations (7).

The Cheyenne and Arapaho people were originally farmers who lived in permanent settlements in and along what is known today as Minnesota and the Missouri River (8, 9). Potentially due to confict with other Indigenous nations, they migrated south and became more nomadic hunters and gatherers. With the acquisition of horses from European colonizers, the tribes were able to make hunting more efcient and frequently traded hunted goods with other tribes.

The various Ute peoples were descendents of Uto-Aztec people and were a large tribe that occupied the region, encompassing areas of what’s known today as Oregon, Idaho, , Eastern , , , Colorado and Northern and . The various routes that comprise the Ute trail created the foundation of many highways in Colorado today (10).

During the mid-1800s, white settlers began traveling west in a concerted effort to expand U.S. territory, to which Indigenous people responded with attacks on wagon trails. Conficts with white settlers rose to an extreme with the discovery of gold, especially Pike’s Peak in 1858. The Ute tribes were displaced by the Brunot Treaty in 1874 — an agreement that tricked the Ute people into thinking they were allowing mining rather than relinquishing their lands.

(7) 48 contemporary tribal nations (8) Legend of America (9) History Society (10) Southern Ute’s tribe history Some Indigenous organizations in Denver to support ● The annual Denver March Powwow is one of the largest gatherings of Indigenous peoples for more than 40 years ● The Southern Ute Indian Tribe’s ofcial website ● The Denver Indian Center is an urban cultural gathering center for the American Indian/ Alaska Native community. of the Denver Metro area ● The ’s ofcial website

Continued Indigenous solidarity Indigenous solidarity starts with land acknowledgments, but does not stop there. Solidarity is a continued practice of learning and education, mutual aid, and advocacy. We start by acknowledging the land we reside on, and we continue by supporting the work of local Indigenous organizers and leaders today.